Swinging clothesline



April 28, 1959- LEO SWINGING CLOTHESLINE Filed Nov 5, 1957 INVENTOR. fill) LEO United States Patent M z,ss4,1ss

SWINGING CLOTHESLINE Angelo Leo, Ludlow, Mass. Application November 5, 1957, Serial No. 694,538

1 Claim. c1. 211-95 This invention is concerned with clothes lines, and particularly a clothes line that is of a movable type.

It has been a universal problem withclothes lines that when the weather is inclement, it is most difficult and unpleasant to get out to the outside clothesline through the snow, rain, mud, and sleet. The within invention substantially overcomes this problem by a novel means of making the clothesline movable vso that it may be positioned onto a porch or veranda where the persondesiring to either hang or remove the clothes is located.v

It is the object of the within invention to provide a clothes line that has means whereby it may be movable to a predetermined location.

It is another object of the within invention to provide a clothes line that can be mounted on the side of a building or other structure.

It is still a further object of the within invention to provide a clothes line that provides means whereby the clothes will not be easily blown off from the line by the wind.

It is yet another object of the within invention to provide a durable mounting for clothes lines, that may be fastened at any height above the ground floor.

It is still another object of the within invention to provide means whereby the clothes line assembly will be easily dissassembled for shipment in transit and simple for assembling by the user, low in cost of manufacture, and of high efliciency.

These and other objects are obtained by means of a supporting arrangement. The supporting arrangement has mounting means whereby the supporting arrangement can be rotated on an axis, inwardly against a spring pressure toward the person desiring to place work upon the clothes line. The spring biases the arrangement into a normal position away from the floating station socalled.

Reference is now made to a more detailed description and to the drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the clothes line assembly.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the clothes line assembly.

Figure 3 is a plan view looking up at the bottom of the view of Figure 2.

The main support 1 is mounted at one end 35 in the L shaped bracket which has the vertical portion 30 and the horizontal portion 31. The support 1 has an opening 36 at this end in which passes the bolt 10. The bolt is locked into position by means of the nut 9. Atop of the blot 10 is a conventional grease cup 2. The grease cup 2 passes lubricant into the bolt assembly 9, 10 through the opening in the arm 1, in the conventional manner.

At the other end 37 of the arm 1 is mounted the clothes line assembly. There is an opening 19 at this end of the arm 1. Passing through the opening 19 is the vertical arm 26. The arm 26 is secured in a fixed position by means of the nuts 14 on the threads 13 on each side of the opening 19.

2,884,138 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 At the bottom of the arm 26 is a nut 20. Mounted movably and resting upon this nut 20 are the four angular arm members 24. The clothes line ropes or strings 23 are connected through the arm members 24in the conventional manner, either by passing through openings 38 or being tied on hooks. In the embodiment shown they are passed through openings in the arms 24. Atop the arms 24 are weather vanes 25. These act as wind catchers to assist the rotary movement of the clothes line and angular arms 24 respectively.

Fastened securely to the arm 1 near the clothes line assembly is a grip bracket 3 which has an opening 4 therein. Through the opening 4 passes the hook 39 of the angle arm portion 6. The angle arm portion ,6 loops through a hook 40 on the turnbuckle assembly 5. The other end of the turnbuckle assembly 5 also has a hook 40 that engages an opening in the angle arm portion 6 which has a hook 41 at its upper end and passes through an opening in the support mount 7 which is secured by a support bolt assembly 8 to the fixed support member 32.

Both the L-shaped bracket 30, 31, and the fixed support member 32 are mounted on a vertical mounting plate 21. The mounting plate 21 is secured in the embodiment shown to a wall 27 by means of the self-threading screws 11 and 12.

Mounted on the arm 1 adjacent to the bracket 30, 31, is another grip bracket 18, which has an opening 17 at its adjacent edge. The grip bracket 18 is connected at the opening 17 to the bias spring 16. The bias spring 16 passes through the opening 15 in the bracket 30, 31. It is to be noted that there are several openings 15 in the bracket 30, 31. This is in the event that it is desirable to increase or decrease the tension on the bias spring 16, by shortening or lengthening the distance.

Mounted adjacent to the openings 15 on the L-shaped bracket is the L-shaped stop bracket 22.

A rope 28 is fastened to the arm near the point where the turnbuckle assembly 5 and 6 interconnects with the arm 1 adjacent to the grip bracket 3. This can be seen clearly in a view of Figure 1.

In operation the washman will hang clothes on the lines 23 from a position along the wall of the house, presumably from a doorway or porch. Because the arm 1 is movably mounted by the bolt assembly 9, 10 in the bracket 30, 31, the arm will rotate as if from the radius of a circle with the center being at the point 9 and 10.

The dotted lines with the arrows in Figures 1, 2, and 3 indicate the path the clothesline assembly and the arm 1 take when the rope 28 is pulled. It is obvious that the rope 28 must pull against the tension of the bias spring 16. There is also a problem in that the spring 16 will cause the entire assembly to swing completely around the opposite direction, placing the clothes line assembly up against the wall 27. However, because of the stop bracket 22, the arm 1 will contact same when it is perpendicular to the wall 27 or mounting plate 21. Accordingly, when the clothesline assembly is in its normal position it will be perpendicular to the wall from which it is hanging, as indicated in the drawings.

Because wet clothes are so heavy, it is necessary of course to add strength to the arm 1. Angle arm 6 has been found to be a desirable arrangement. The hook at the end of arm 6 which engages the support mount 7 moves freely and easily as the arm 1 moves on the boltnut assembly 9, 10.

Another feature is the weathervanes 25 which are mounted on the clothes line assembly 24 and 23. As

' already stated, angle arms 24 which, in a sense, cross circular motion. The circular motion will be in the direction of the Wind. It will lessen the resistance of the clothes to the wind and prevent the clothes from being blown from the line.

It is contemplated that thearm 1 may beas long as thirty (30) feet.

In a more luxurious type of arrangement the rope 28 can be hooked up on pulleys and carried to a crank which can be located near the door of the house or on the porch. The crank can operate a pulley which will take in the slack of the rope and pull the clothes line in towards the door. The crank can then be released and the clothes line assembly can be allowed to follow the reverse trail of the dotted arrow back to its normal position.

The spring 16' may be placed on the opposite side from that shown in the drawing. reversed to the opposite side of the arm 2 for the convenience of installation. The spring 16 is especially helpful in maintaining the assembly stationary in strong winds.

Dimesions in the drawing have been somewhat exaggerated in order to teach more clearly the within invention.

It is contemplated that certain minor structural arrangements may be interchanged with mechanical equivalents Without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

The stop 22 could also be- I claim:

A movable clothes line assembly adapted to be mounted on the side of a building? comprising a main support arm, a horizontal L-shaped bracket, means for movably engaging said arm on said bracket, a bias spring connected between said L-shaped bracket and said arm for controlling the position of said arm on said bracket, an angle arm interconnected with said main arm for supporting said main arm, a clothes line assembly having weather vanes, a vertical stem, means for mounting said vertical stem on said arm, means for rotatably mounting said clothes line assembly on said stem, and a rope means for pulling said main arm against the bias of the said spring, whereby said clothes line assembly may be moved proximate the end of said L-shaped bracket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 595,947 Hill Dec. 27, 1897 602,3.16 Fordham Apr. 12, 1898 845,248 Morgan Feb. 26, 1907 939,045 Lovejoy Nov. 2, 1909 1,096,448 Murphey et a1. May 12, 1914 1,613,041 Lowe Jan. 4, 1927 2,398,858. Rosenblatt Apr. 23, 1946 2,498,518 Zingrnan et a1 Feb. 21, 1950 2,512,987 Young June 27, 1950 

